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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:05 >> And we delve into all that Kevin Walsh can do.
00:08 Now to Major League Baseball, following Memorial Day weekend to get his
00:12 thoughts on what we have seen around MLB.
00:15 Of course, Kev, over the weekend, the big news out of Atlanta,
00:18 Ronald Acuna Jr., out for the remainder of this year with a torn ACL.
00:23 The Braves did see their price get longer, but not by all that much.
00:27 In fact, as of this moment, four teams around the major leagues have a three
00:32 digit price, including Atlanta, led of course by the Dodgers at plus 260.
00:37 Nearly half the number of the Yankees at 5-1.
00:40 The Phillies snapped a short three game skid yesterday with a 6-1 win
00:45 in San Francisco over the Giants.
00:47 And the Phils the best record in baseball,
00:49 third best price to win the World Series at plus 650.
00:53 What has been your evaluation of this Major League Baseball campaign about two
00:58 months into it?
00:58 >> Well, I mean, the New York Yankees are quite the story because, look,
01:05 they finally added in star caliber player and there you go.
01:11 I know the pitching's been amazing.
01:12 I get it.
01:14 It's obviously a big part of it.
01:16 But Aaron Judge for the first month of this season was awful and
01:19 the Yankees were still great.
01:21 And now he's woken up and it's a one-two race at the top of the American League MVP
01:26 board between Judge and Soto.
01:29 And it's one of those things where now we project the Yankees as far as the post
01:34 season goes, which they're of course expected to make and they're expected to
01:39 win the American League East and potentially have the best record overall in the AL.
01:44 And you look at it and go, okay, we like the pitching now, right?
01:47 You would think Eric Cole would pitch in the post season.
01:50 The Yankees are gonna be able to continue to be very cautious with bringing him back.
01:54 But when you get to that lineup, it's not a one man show.
01:58 Again, I'm sure you guys talk about it all the time here on the early line when you go
02:02 through the daily baseball card.
02:04 But I remember so often last year, two years ago, we'd run through a Yankees
02:08 lineup and Donnie would go, only Judge, that's it.
02:12 You'd have names, LeMay, Hugh, Rizzo, but they weren't hitting.
02:16 Stanton, they weren't delivering.
02:18 It's a team now that has two guys they can lean on.
02:22 And it's going to be very rare that at least one of them isn't swinging a hot bat,
02:27 which will always keep the rest of your lineup competitive.
02:30 >> There is parody in Major League Baseball and that parody usually shows up
02:35 in the playoffs as opposed to the regular season where really it's supposed to.
02:39 But if I'm looking at the top four teams in Major League Baseball and
02:41 splitting them up, Kevin, two and two, two National League teams,
02:44 two American League teams.
02:45 To me, it really is the Dodgers and the Phillies, the Yankees and
02:48 also the Orioles.
02:49 And I don't see much pushback from anybody behind them.
02:52 The Braves would have been there, but you can't lose a Cy Young pitcher and
02:55 an MVP and expect still to be yourself.
02:57 And also the Philadelphia Phillies with a five or six game lead now this early.
03:01 Typically you're down five or
03:02 six games this early to the Braves to try to chase them down.
03:05 Outside of those top four teams,
03:07 do you see any other teams that can sort of creep into that equation?
03:10 Cuz for me, it looks like the top four and everybody else.
03:14 >> I think the difficult thing is so
03:17 far history would suggest that the buy is not helpful, right?
03:23 Let's forget the idea that the buy is harmful, which is absolutely on the board.
03:28 It suggests it is not a beneficial,
03:31 something that is beneficial to these teams at the top.
03:34 So I think you're right, Donnie.
03:37 Those are the four best clubs.
03:38 Cuz again, the Atlanta stuff, sometimes there's injuries,
03:41 there's overreactions in value.
03:43 I hate every Atlanta number.
03:45 If you made me bet a Brave number, it would be to miss the playoffs.
03:48 I just don't think you're getting enough of that 14 to 1 marker.
03:52 But I think based on what we've seen from Major League Baseball,
03:56 even if you're right, Donnie, those teams at the top are the best in the bunch.
04:01 And I bet Baltimore before the year to win a World Series,
04:04 if I were to bet another team, I'd want a big ticket.
04:07 I expect this team to be in the mix type of team.
04:12 A San Diego Padres, a Milwaukee Brewers, for example.
04:15 >> When you look at the individual awards right now in the American League MVP
04:21 market, it is Juan Soto has the favorite plus 260,
04:25 about 70 cents in front of his New York teammate in Aaron Judge.
04:29 But there are five guys, all with a six to one price or
04:33 less only separated by about three and a half dollars.
04:38 At the end of the year, do you think it will be a conversation between
04:41 only Juan Soto and Aaron Judge?
04:43 Or can somebody else, a Bobby Witt Jr.,
04:45 a Kyle Tucker, win that American League MVP award?
04:48 >> Well, what's really odd about the pricing on Soto and
04:53 Judge is if you use wins above replacement,
04:56 which is a huge factor into winning this award.
05:00 Gunner Henderson's one, Bobby Witt's two, and Kyle Tucker's three.
05:06 It's Judge at four and then Soto at five.
05:08 And Soto is currently the favorite of the bunch.
05:11 I don't know if that's a star power thing.
05:14 I don't know if it's a narrative of Soto helped turn the Yankees around.
05:19 Again, this is a team that missed the playoffs last year, right?
05:21 He's not joining a team that won 95 games last season and
05:25 dominated the American League.
05:27 I don't know if that's, we trust Soto to keep this up a lot more than everyone else.
05:33 But again, if season ended today, if Soto won that award,
05:38 it would, I think, have to then be under the idea of he turned the Yankees
05:44 season around and he gets the lion's share of the credit for that.
05:47 >> Now here's the issue, Kevin.
05:50 I mean, you missed the point that you bring up all the time.
05:53 Look who's one and two here in the race.
05:55 It's Soto and Judge, which means they are going to split their votes and
05:58 that gives it to Bobby Witt Jr.
06:00 Here of the Kansas City Royals,
06:01 because nobody else on that team is actually going to be an MVP.
06:04 Outside of that, I love what Gunner Henderson is doing.
06:06 But have you seen Corey Seager lately here on a team that's won the World Series,
06:09 eight home runs in eight days, 30 for one price right now at this point.
06:14 So just getting back to again, Soto and
06:15 Judge, it's a shame that they're both really good on the same team.
06:18 No shot they win the MVP though, that's the point.
06:20 >> What about the NL MVP market though, Donnie?
06:22 Are they gonna cancel both awards?
06:24 >> Look, you gotta do that.
06:26 There's, look, no Dodgers, no Yankees here.
06:29 You just give it to the next best player with only one guy fighting for that award.
06:32 That's how everything is one year in the MVP market here, B double S.
06:36 Just the way it is.
06:37 >> Yeah, that'd be Mookie Betts and Shohei Otani,
06:39 the two front runners in the National League MVP award odds right now.
06:42 Mookie Betts, the short favorite plus 125.
06:45 But what Donnie has failed to mention is the guy tied for
06:48 third with Bryce Harper is William Contreras for the Milwaukee Brewers.
06:53 So then just next in line, it wouldn't go to Harper,
06:56 it would go to Contreras, it might seem, right, Kev?
07:00 >> Yellowch is on that team.
07:01 Now Yellowch is there.
07:02 >> I mean, does Ozuna get it now that Acuna bowed out of the race?
07:06 >> Ooh.
07:07 >> You know, wow.
07:08 >> Is the ACL there to help out a fellow friend?
07:10 >> Right. >> Man.
07:12 >> Does Donnie start the Marzello-Zuna for NL MVP campaign,
07:16 one that Kevin Walsh and I will stay far away from?
07:19 [MUSIC]